Drawer for address plates



Mai. 13, 1923.

v C. CHISHOLM DRAWER Fo ADDREs PLATES '2 sheet-sheet 2 Filed Oct. 12, 1920 JLYE'lTtEIT Wm (W y Etta Tn 5 75 for address plates.

Patented Mar. 13, 1923 STAES PATENT OFFICE.

GLIF'ION CHISHOLM, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, .ASSIGNTOR TO THE AMERICAN'IVIULTI- GRAPH COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

DRAWER FOR ADDRESS PLATES.

Application filed Gotober 12, 1920. Serial No. 416,359.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFTON CHIsHoLM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Drawers for Address Plates, of which the followingis a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to a filing means cerned with filing drawers for storing addressing plates in such a manner as to facilitate the conveying and handling, both me-.

chanically and manually, of the plates when used in conjunction with an addressing machine.

In the use of address plates for circular correspondence, the plates are ordinarily stored infiling drawers and are removed from the drawers and presented to the printing mechanism and. are then again as sembled in the same or a corresponding order and stored. The conveying of these plates to and from the machine, the storage and mechanical indexing thereof, as well as the mechanical automatic selection of the plates for addressing purposes is greatly facilitated by the use of filing drawers. The machines in which such address .plates are useful are those having automatic means for removing the plates from a column or stack and conveying them past an inking and printing mechanism, and then restacking them in another stack or column. The depositing may be accomplished by inserting 'my filing drawer in the magazine of the machine and releasing the contents in stacked order therein, whereupon the drawer is withdrawn, and the restacking may be made into the same drawer after it is placed in a restacking holder. I

- An example of such an addressing machine is that shown and described in my covpending application on an address printing mechanism filed November 26th, 1920, Serial No. 426,412.

The particular objects of my invention It is particularly coninclude the arranging of a filing drawer in such manner that the initiation of the various mechanisms, which co-operate with the plate holder, results automatically from the manual placing of the drawer within the fgeding and restacking magazines of the ma- 0 me.

' Another object of this invention is to incorporate means in the filing drawer arranged tooperate other means located on the magazine, which is adapted to act upon the mechanism for conveying the printing plate holder from the magazine to the ink ing andzprinting devices to bringsuch conveying mechanisniinto position to immediately engage the bottom plate holder in themagazine and convey it to the printing atsubstantially the same time that the paper feed mechanism, which is incorporated in the machine, feeds the first sheet of paper past the printing platen.

Another object of the present invention is to so arrange the construction of the drawer that the plate holder retaining means attached to the end portion of the drawer may be automatically released when the drawer is placed in the feedingmagazine of the machine.

Another obj ect' of this invention is to provide a drawer thatmay be inserted in the feed magazine of an addressing machine, deposit its plate holder contents therein in stacked order, and that may be then inserted in a restacking magazine in the same machinewherein it may be reloaded with its,

former contents in proper order.

Anotherobject' of my invention is to arrange the plate holder retaining means car- 7 ried by the drawer in such a manner that thismeans, after having. been moved in the feed magazine to release the plate holders in the feed magazine, may be automatically re-positioned to retain the plates when the drawer is removed from the restacking magazine.

.A further object is to provide an adjustable back stopping means within the drawer which may maintain the lioldersin anupend plate 15 suitable withdrawing right position when the drawer is standing); horizontally in its cabinet, and which may be engaged by projections on the restaclring magazine to retard the bacl: stop when the drawer is being inserted until the back stop comes to the end of the drawer and out of the path of the plate holders being restacked.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a filling drawer that may permit ready-access when removing; or replacing a certain plate holder, and of such construction that it may be simple, durable, comparatively cheaply manufactured and compactly stored.

My invention will be hereinafter more fully described in connection with acon venient embodiment of the same, as shown in the drawings, the essential novel characteristics being summarized in the claims.

Referring to the drawings in Fig. 1,

" have shown a perspective view of a drawer,

which is designed to fulfill the above mentioned objects, while Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the open end oi the drawer, showing the plate holder retaining; means in releasingposition; in Fig. 3, which is a longitudinal section of the end of the drawer, the plate holder retaining means is shown in engagement with the bottom holder of the stack within the drawer; while Fig. 4 1s a similar section showing the retaining means as having been brought out of engagement from the stack of holderswithin the drawer;

' Fig 5 is a section similar to Figs. 3 and 4, but showing the position or the bottom of the drawer when inserted in the restaching magazine of the addressingmachine; F 1g. (3 IS a fragmentary view of the part of the feed magazine with the drawer part way inserted; in Fig. 7 I have shown the drawer as being partly inserted in the restaclring magazine, in which position the back stopping means is shown as being moved toward the top of the drawer; while Fig. 8 shows the position of the top of the drawer when the bottom of the drawer is in the position as shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 9 is a transverse section oi the drawer, showing the back stop therein;

The bodyof the drawer is a sheet metal member bent into a rectangular troughshape; that is to say, it hasa bottom 10 and side walls 11. I The edges o'f theseside walls are curled over into hollow stiffening ribs 13 extending inwardly. As shown in Figs. 2 and 9, each rib preferabl bent by right angle turns making; the substantially rectangular rib shown,'the final edge substantially abutting; the wall 11. The end of the drawer is a sheet metal cap member 15 flanged onto the outer sides of the side walls 11. The may carry a suitable open an index card 19. A

pocket 18 for holding handle l6,'made of curled sheet metal, is secured at the closed end 01 the drawer, being shown as riveted to the bottom portion 10.

It will be seen that such a drawer as described may be stilt and strong, and at the same time comparatively light. it may conveniently carry address plates in suitable rectangular holders, which, when standing in their normal position, or on edge and at right angles to the length of the drawer, will be retained therein by the ribs 18, though any holder may be readily removed by separating the adjacent holders from it and turning askew the holder to be removed.

The address plates are prevented from dropping out otthe open end of the drawer by a pair of leaf springs 20 riveted at 21 to the sides of the drawer (preferably through a distance piece 22), and having inwardly projecting ends 23 which pass through openings 2% in the side walls of the drawer.

At the head end of the supply of plates there is a suitable follower, or back stop 30, preferably made of sheet metal and engaging the drawer ribs with sufficient snugness to prevent misplacement, though it is readily slidable lengthwise of the-drawer. This back stop has a body portion 31 substan- 9, between'the ribs and then outwardly at 36 on top of the ribs; this provides the de-' sired snug sliding engagement with the drawer. The top edge of the body portion '31 of this back stop is turned at right angles as shown at 38 to provide a lift for manually positioning the stop. The portions 35 of thestop have also inwardly turned lips 39 designed to cooperate with abutments in an addressing machine, to automatically position the back stop, as hereinafter explained.

Nearthe head end of one ofthe sides 11 is an opening 4.0 into the drawer, through which it may be loaded when used as a receiving magazine. When the drawer stands horizontal for the purpose of storing 'address plates, the back stop will be such a distance from the head 15 of the drawer as will. render it impossible for the plates to pass out of the opening 40.

The drawer is also provided on one side near the open end with an outwardly pro- ]Cl1111,9; peg; 4:2, whlch may cooperate with 'mechanism of the address machine to be hereinafter described.

it will be understood that in use the drawer stands horizontal in a suitable cabinet with other similar drawers, the address platcs in their holders standing vertically on one of their long edges on the body portion 10 of the drawer, the ends of the plate holders being close to the side walls 11, and the top edge lying beneath and close to the ribs 13. When the drawer having the plates is removed from its cabinet it may be carried in any position to the address machine, in which it is to be used, and the plates will not drop out. Fig. 3'

downwardly and the stack of plates 50 retained by the inwardly projecting ends 23 of the springs 20.

The springs 20, while theymay retain the plates, are adapted to automatically release them by thesimple expedient of stationary camming projections, which engage between the spring and the wall of the drawer when the drawer is inserted in the machine. Fig. 4 indicates such a projection at 60; this projection'beingadapted to enter the space 27 between the forked lower ends of the spring s'o that the inner edge ofthe spring at the-top of the fork bears against theincline of the projection. The result is that as the drawer is pushed downwardly into place, the springs20 are automatically withdrawn from beneath the plates 50. This simple expedient enables the contents of the drawer to be discharged into the supply magazine of an address printing machine by the simple act ofputting the drawer in place and withdrawing it.

It will be noted from Fig. 4 that the ends 23 of the springs 20 bear against the outer face of the walls 11 just below the slots 24.

To effect this the ends are bent at such an angle to the body ofthe spring as to ,normally take this position and a slight distortion is required to enable the ends to pass into the slots 2%. The result of this is that when the cam projection 60 forces the springs outwardly to free the plates they remain automatically in this outward position as the drawer is drawn upwardly away from the cam projection, thus not interfering with the stack of address plates 50, which are thus left in the supply magazine of the address machine.

When the drawer is to be used as a receiving magazine of the addressing machine it is simply put into place, and in this position the ends 28 of the springs abut suitable stationary pins 61 (Fig. 5) of the machine, which bend the ends 23 upwardly sufiiciently, so they register with .the openings 24 and spring into .them' by the resilience of the leaves 20 and are thus in position to support the stack of plates. F ig. 5 shows the drawer as it is coming into its final position as the receiving magazine and before the pin 61 (carried by a portion 62 of the machine) has acted on the spring.

When the drawer is in the receiving position, the plates may be fed into it by the adindicates the drawer in a vertical position with the open end, j

1 ed, theelevator will be. at the bottom of its coming askew. i

Figs. 7 and 8 indicate at a lever adapte per end of the drawer andthen is automatically depressed the thickness of a plate holder every time a plate holder is inserted above it. When the drawer is finally loadw travel, as indicated in Fig. 5, and the springs will extend within the drawer to, holdthe plates as -sho-wn in Fig. Thus as soon as the drawer is loaded, it may be simplylifted out and returned to its cabinet.

It is desirable to provide means for'auto-' ma'tically positioning the address 'plateconveyor of the printing machine when the drawer is inserted in the supply magazine, and for this purpose the pin 42 heretofore referred to may be used. ,Fig. 6, indicates.

at 70, a portion of the storagemagazine, in which the drawer may be lnserted. At-71 is a movable rod which may connect with any suitable mechanism, as for instance, the conveyor positioner. This rod is shown as guided by a stirrup 72 and drawn upwardly by a spring 7 3 and has on it a step 74 adapted to be engaged by the pin 42. This enables the mere insertionof the drawer to operate the rod 71 longitudinally.

In Figs. 7- and 8,1 have indicated at 80,

the easing into which the drawer may be in serted when it is to be used as a receiving magazine, the drawer being simply deposited therein thru an opening in the upper end. As the drawer is putinto place, the back stop lips 39' engage stationary brackets 81 on the casing, which prevent the back stop descending so that as. the drawer goes into 1 place the back stop comes relatively to the upper end thereof, as shown in 'Fig. 8. lVhen the drawer is removed'the back stop may retain thisposition by friction, but may be readilyshoved manually into engagement with the plates to prevent them from beed to be operatedby the insertion oflthe drawer, such lever being useful in actuating the mechanism. to control the ':operation of the elevator. .As shown, the lever is pivoted 85, as well as mechanism for positioning the conveyor chain by movement of the rod-71,-- neither of which are'shown herein-are from the subject matter of other applications of tail - turn.

through an opening in said against the outer surface of said side wall.

mine. The lever and rod-are here shown to illustrate more fully the utility of those portions of the drawer which cooperate with such mechanisms.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A. drawer for address plates,-having an open end,'and means carried by the drawer and adapted to form aremovable abutment 10 at such open end, said abutment being adapted to automatically hold itself idle when, so positioned. i

2. A drawer having an open end combined with a spring abutment carried by the --drawer and adapted to prevent theexit: of

plates therefrom, and means whereby when said abutment is withdrawn it will normally retain. such withdrawn position.

-means whereby the spring tends to hold the projection on the exterior after it. has been withdrawn from the interior.

5. The combination of a drawer, having an opening, a spring having adapted to extend through an opening into the interior, said spring being formed to tend to force the projection into the interior when the projection is brought into registration therewith, and tending to hold the projectionout of registration with the opening after it has been withdrawn from the opening. 45

'6. A drawer, comprising a rectangular trough-shaped member having an open end and a leaf spring secured to the drawer, and having a projection adapted wardly to engage address plates or bear against a surface carried by the drawer to be held free from the plates.

7. A drawer, comprising a rectangular trough-shaped member, having an open end and a leaf spring secured tothe exterior of one of the side walls of the. drawer, and having a projection adapted to extend inwardly side wall or bear 8. A drawer having an open end, a leaf spring secured to the drawer, and havlng its endbent at. substant ally right angles to the body of the spring, said end being adapted to project inwardly into the drawer through an opening therein, or to bear a projection springs having to extend ining against the outer surface beyond the opening.

9. A drawer for address plates, comprising a rectangular trough-shaped member, having an open end, a leaf spring secured to the exterior of one of the sides of the drawer, and having its end bent at substantially right angles to the body of the spring, said end being adapted to project inwardly into the drawer through an opening in the side wall when the end is distorted from the normal,but when withdrawn'from the opening being adapted to normally bear against the exterior of the side wall adjacent to the opening.

10. A drawer made of sheet metal, and comprising a base portion and side walls integral therewith, and leaf springs secured to the exterior of the side walls, and having projections adapted to extend through openings in the side walls into the interior, said springs tending to force the projections into the interior when the projections register with the openings, and tending to hold the projections out of registration when they have been withdrawn.

11. A drawer made of sheet metal, having a base portion. side walls rising therefrom, said drawer having an open end, leaf springs secured to the exterior of the two side walls and projecting'toward the open end, each spring having'its end portion bifurcated to provide two tongues, each tongue being bent inwardly at substantially right angles to the body of the spring, theside walls having openings through which such tongues may project into the interior, the

V a tendency to swing inwardly at their free ends, and having a tendency also to hold their bent ends out of registration with the openings when the bent ends are withdrawn.

12. The con'ibination with a. drawer, having a base, side walls, and inwardly projecting top ribs, of a back stop slidable within the drawer, and having a cross plate with flanged ends, said ends being bent to embrace the ribs.

13. The combination with a drawer, hava base. side walls, and inwardly projecting top ribs, of a back stop slidable within the drawer, and having portions bent to embrace the ribs, said step having also portions projecting to form steps whereby the back stop may be held.

14. The combination with a drawer, having a base, side walls and inwardly projecting top ribs, of aback stop slidable within the drawer, and having a crossplate with flanged ends, said ends being bent to em brace the ribs and having inward flanges to provide controlling steps.

15. The combination with a drawer, having a base, side walls and inwardly'projeet- 1,448,197 I If;

ing top ribs, of a back stop slidable within.

the drawer and having a cross plate with flanged ends, said ends being bent to embrace the ribs, said plate portion having its 5 upper edge flanged to provide a hand grip.

16. In a filing drawer comprising a bottom and sides and having an open end,

means adjacent the open end for retaining filedartioles within the drawer, and a projection on the exterior of the drawer extending beyond the surface thereof. In testimony whereof, I hereunto afiix my signature.

CLIFTON CHISHOLM. 

